Matsiko World Orphans Choir performs in Salinas

To join the Matsiko World Orphans Choir, Diego Mendoza attended a casting call in the church of his native Chivay, high in the Peruvian mountains. It's an area so cold no vegetables grow and people are so poor they only eat chicken once or twice a year — during special occasions.

Diego, 14, goes to school but rarely do his parents have enough money to buy him notepads and pencils. That only happens to the children who have "sponsorships," and he doesn't have one.

"First, they have to go to the children at the table," Diego said in Spanish, referring to children pictured on Matsiko choir pamphlets who will be first in line for sponsorships.

On Easter Sunday, Diego performed four songs with the Matsiko choir during the children's services at Cypress Community Church near Laguna Seca. Their energetic performance was met with smiles of wonder and approval from the young parishioners.

"They're good," a boy told his next seat neighbor.

The Matsiko Choir began touring the United States in 2008 as a project of the International Children's Network, an organization that helps needy children in Uganda, Kenya, Guatemala, Peru, the Philippines and India. The choir tours for about nine months, then the children return to their native countries to continue with their schooling, energized and having moved ahead in their courses, organizers say. Each year, a new group of performers is recruited and trained for another tour.

Marina city leaders "adopted" the choir four years ago, when the group fortuitously stopped for the Festival of the Winds.

"They saw the kites from the highway, they had never seen anything like that before," said Terry Siegrist, director of recreation and cultural services.

Marina, named one of the best cities for children to live in the United States, keeps inviting the choir back so local youngsters learn to be appreciative of what they have.

"There's no better way for our kids to get it than for them to watch how these kids value education," Siegrist said.

Performers with Matsiko hail from Uganda and Peru, and despite the group's moniker, not all are orphans. Not only are the children touring with the choir the ones who benefit from the tour. Organizers with the network hope the choir helps spread the word of the "sponsorships" and how those benefit children in poor communities throughout the world.

"The challenges are immense," said Don Windham, founder of the International Children's Network. "We see people die because the parents cannot afford $2 to pay for malaria medicine. Our focus is on sponsorships, we just can't (meet every need.)"

Through "sponsorships" — a monthly allowance — the children receive food, clothing and other basics to continue their education. That's how Mirta Casaperalta, 23, was able to finish her bachelor's in tourism administration in her native Peru.

"My parents had no means," she said in Spanish. "We all want to have an education, it's very important. If you have a career, your life is more healthful. Education can change our country's destiny."

Casaperalta is touring the United States as a chaperone for the choir. She's working on perfecting her English so she can work as a tour guide when she returns home.

Matsiko, the Ugandan word for "hope," will spend an entire week in Marina, performing at different schools and offering a community concert on Saturday. They have also been invited to sing the U.S. national anthem at a Warrior's game in Santa Cruz the same day.

After their performance at Cypress Church, the children shared a special Easter meal with Marina volunteers and organizers at the teen center. It was Salome Barchue's 13th birthday, so she was treated to a balloon, a cake and its corresponding candles.

Salome is from a village in Liberia, where teachers are so poorly paid they often have to hold a second or third job. Salome is in second grade, where she learns math, English and science.

What she's enjoyed most in the United States is performing, she says.

For Diego, the best part has been the people.

"I'm being well taken care of," he said. "The people are so affectionate. I really like them."